U.S. Pat. No. 3,637,159 to Caramella discloses a carrier box latch for suspended bodies, such as electric light pendants, having a rotatable drum and a clutch plate having members engageable with the drum to permit rotation of the drum in one direction and prevent rotation in the other direction, and in which a frictional force can be varied by tightening a screw.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,732 to Gaeta discloses a pulley device for suspending height adjustable lamps with an adjustable friction system, wherein a wire winding drum is free to rotate in a rewinding direction, while its rotation is braked and regulated by a friction system in the direction of unwinding.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,016,493 to Hackney discloses a clothes-line reel in a conical housing having a spring that is wound when the clothes-line is pulled out and attached to a distant point. When the clothes-line is released, the spring winds up the reel.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,632,609 to Kirby discloses a fishing line leader reel having a casing which encloses a spring operated reel.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,323,750 to Worth et al. discloses an automatic reel for controlling selective withdrawal, locking and return of a seat belt.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,294,031 to Volpei, et al. discloses a concealed gun holster inside a sports fanny pack.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,461 to Bailey, Jr., discloses an exercise device for the upper body including generators attached to bright lights that are turned by coiling and recoiling pull-cords attached to hand grips pulled during the normal arm movement of exercise.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,328,432 to Gvoich discloses an upper body exercising belt comprising a plurality of flexible housings having bores slidingly mounted on a waist-encircling belt, a flexible inelastic rope passing through a series of guide tubes mounted in the bores of the housings, and variable resistance means mounted in the bores.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,234,395 to Miller, et al. discloses an adjustable asymmetric-resistance upper body exerciser.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,141,223 to Block discloses an exercise device including an elastic cord attached to a belt or other device worn at the waist of the user.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,647 to Castellanos discloses an elastic resistance exerciser secured at the waist.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,540,173 to Hopkins, Jr., discloses a portable elastic exercising device having a single length of elastic cord twice passed through a flexible sheath to encompass the user's waist.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,035,010 to Rawlings discloses an apparatus for providing physical health treatment comprising a belt structure with flexible strands connected to the belt structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 866,495 to Marks discloses an exercising device comprising an adjustable belt with a slidable ring, an elastic cord passing through the ring and having a handle at one end, a foot piece, and a non-elastic piece connecting the foot piece and the elastic cord.
Most of the exercise devices described above provide resistant forces that are directed from the waist. However, when engaged in running, jogging, skating or other lower body intensive activity, the arms and the hands typically extend through a range of motion that varies in height and direction. Further, several of the above devices employ a single cord with handles at both ends so that forward movement of one hand pulls the other handle backwards, and vice versa. However, this requires that the motions of the right and left hands be synchronized, which is not always possible.